He woke up slowly, blinking when fluorescent lights above him made his eyes water. Took in his surroundings. Cold metal under his back. Equally cold metal around his wrists and ankles. Thick metal band securing his neck to the metal slab he lay on. White walls and roof. Glittering chrome equipments scattered all around him. He turned his head as far as the band allowed, to get a better view and pitiful whimper escaped from his lips. Marie lay next to him, unconscious and strapped down to a metal table similar manner as him. That whimper turned to a furious growl when a masked figure wearing a lab coat entered the room. Figure didn’t even flinch, just ignored him and walked to Marie, taking a stethoscope and a cuff and measured her blood pressure.
“Female, approximately twenty years old. Subject seems to be in good health. No ill response to sedation. Subject has manifested, and mutation is active. I recommend we continue quarantine yet another week at least.”
Voice belonged to a woman. When she had finished with Marie, she turned to Logan. Now he could see small recorder in her hand.
“Male, approximately thirty-five years old. Subject is in good health. No ill response to sedation. Subject has manifested, and mutation is active. I recommend we continue quarantine yet another week at least.” Woman prattled the litany to the recorder before pocketing it and measuring his blood pressure.
“What the fuck is going on?” Logan snarled. He knew from experience that this was no Army operation. Woman didn’t answer, just put away the stethoscope and the cuff and left. As soon as door had closed behind her, it opened again. Two masked figures walked in. One took a hold of Marie’s gurney and the other started carting Logan. Again he tried to ask what was happening, but he could have gotten an answer much easier from a brick wall than their captors.
To his amazement men, they clearly were men, pushed both gurneys to the same room, retreating. Some sort of force field closed the doorway, and restraints on him and Marie clicked open. He sprung to his feet and snatched Marie’s limb body to his arms, retreating to the furthest corner of the room. Gurneys seemed to have a life of their own. As soon as their weight was off from them, they retreated from the room through the force field.
They still had their clothes on, and what puzzled Logan at no end, was the fact that they hadn’t taken his weapons. Guns were still in their holsters.
“Marie?” He shook her lightly. There was no answer. Her eyes stayed closed, breathing shallow. Logan slid to the floor, back against the wall, her warm form clutched against his chest. His eyes scanned the room around them. Again white walls. Doorway that was glowing blue light. Soft-looking narrow bed. Toilet seat and sink next to it on the opposite wall of the bed. No surveillance cameras as far as he could detect.
“Looks like we’re screwed again, kid…” He whispered, more to himself than to Marie.
“Come on, Marie… Wake up. You’re starting to scare me…” His nose and ears told him there was nothing wrong. She didn’t smell sick or injured. Her heartbeat and breathing were steady, peaceful, but they had been cooped up to this cell for several hours already, and she showed no signs of waking up anytime soon.
“Wake the fuck up!” Angry growl and hard slap on her cheek pulled her awake. She bolted up, away from who ever had slapped her, and regretted that move immediately. Somebody had replaced her knees with rubber, brain with cotton wads, and stuffed some sort of dead animal down her throat. She fell on the floor.
“Get up.” Rough hands around her arms, fingers digging to muscle, dragging her up and forward.
“Get up and move those fucking legs.” That voice. She knew that voice. Logan. She tried to stand up, tried to tell him it was okay. She was awake now.
“You’re going to walk, or you’re going to cry and walk. Which is it?” He was shaking her like a rag doll, dragging her around. Funny. She thought they had gotten away from the desert, but here they were again. And she wanted to sleep. But first she was going to puke. What ever she had been eating, it wasn’t co-operating with her stomach.
“Good. Let it all out.” Toilet bowl? There was a toilet bowl in the middle of a freaking desert? Trust Logan to find one from oddest of places…
“Here. Rinse your mouth.” Water. Good. But wait a fucking minute!
“You said we had no fucking water!” She spat, struggling to get free from his hold. Logan let go of her and backed away few steps.
“You awake?” She heard him asking. She couldn’t answer. Fresh bout of nausea made her gag and sputter, kneel in front of the toilet bowl again. Her stomach cramped and heaved, but nothing came out. Logan’s hands landed on her shoulders, massaging gently.
“Drink this.” White paper cup, filled with water. She took it, rinsed her mouth again before actually drinking. Her head started to clear slowly.
“Where are we? I remember that they shot you and… What is this place?”
“Don’t have a clue. I woke up in some kind of a lab. You were there, too. They carted us in here and left,” Logan said, taking the empty cup from her and filling it again.
“Drink. I don’t know what they used to knock you out, but more you drink, faster it leaves your system.”
“In a lab? What did they do to us?” She gasped horrified.
“Nothing as far as I can tell. Took our blood pressure and threw us in here. They even let me keep my guns…” Suddenly force field on the door flickered once, then twice before disappearing completely.
“What do you see?” Marie whispered her question. Logan had sneaked to the doorway, and once he was sure the force field was really off, he had eased partly out of the room to take a peek.
“Another room. Bigger one. I don’t know… Looks like somebody’s home…” Logan whispered, gesturing her to come closer.
“Stay close.”
They stepped out to a space that reminded a comfortable living room. A couch, few armchairs and row after row books on a shelf lined to the wall. Soft carpets on the floor. Even a small fireplace with crackling fire in it. On a table in front of it was a tray, covered with white cloth.
“This is weird…” Marie started and let out a startled gasp when force field behind them flickered back to life, blocking their entrance to the smaller room. Simultaneously a part of opposite wall disappeared, revealing yet another room. They could see a table, and chairs around it. Cupboards lining the walls. An envelope on the table. Two doors, two real doors at the far wall of that room.
“Come on,” Logan urged, taking her hand and they entered to what appeared to be a kitchen. Logan picked up the envelope. Plain white, no scents on it. No other than paper, and ink. He tore it open.
**Welcome to the Free Zone. You’re quarantined. You will find food and clean clothes from the quarantine facility around you. Once that it’s established that you carry no infections, you will be released, and can become a part of our society.**
“Free Zone?” Marie asked when Logan cursed and tore the paper.
“I have heard about this place. Thought it was just a rumor. This is supposed to be some sort of haven for mutants. Safe place, hidden from the Army.” Marie squealed, clapped her hands and jumped from delight, but grim lines on Logan’s face made her smile falter.
“This isn’t a good thing?” She asked. Logan forced a small smile on his face.
“I’m not sure. Might be. But I have my suspicions…”
Next hour they spent inspecting their prison. Prison it was, even if cozier than most of those. From behind closed doors in the kitchen they found small bathroom, and a bedroom. Cupboards held dishes and were stocked with dried food products. There was soap and shampoo in the bathroom, as well as toothpaste and toothbrushes. Fire in the fireplace at the living room wasn’t real, but some sort of holographic projection. Books were real. On a tray, under the cloth was a metal cylinder with two porcelain cups. Logan opened the cylinder and took a careful sniff.
“Coffee. Relatively fresh. Want some?” He asked, pouring himself a cup and slumping to an armchair in front of the false fire.
“Go on. It’s not poisoned,” he said when Marie hesitated. She poured herself a cup and settled on the floor, leaning her head against his knee.
“Couldn’t find any surveillance. No cameras, no bugs. Couldn’t find a door to outside either. Looks like were stuck.”
“Well, there are worse places we could be stuck in,” Marie said, glancing around. Logan snorted.
“Prison is a prison. Doesn’t matter how pretty curtains you drape over its windows. But don’t worry. I’ll find a way to get us out of here. No surveillance means than somebody has to come and check up on us sooner or later…”
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000